Do you Suffer from Friggatriskaidephobia?

Scientists call it “friggatriskaidephobia.” You and I say it is the fear of Friday the 13th. I often run across those who are more superstitious than I am, and today someone made me wonder where this fear of a day, one certain day, comes from. so i took a few minutes to visit a few sites on the internet to find when and how this fear of Friday the 13th started.

It appears there are conflicting reports out there as to the origin of the superstition, but the consensus is this… the fear of Friday the 13th is a modern creation of two older superstitions – That Friday is an unlucky day, and that the 13th is an unlucky number.

Here are some facts that may help to explain these fears:

In numerology, the number 12 is considered to be the number of completeness – 12 hours on a clock, 12 months in a year, 12 apostles of Jesus, etc. But 13 is considered irregular, overstepping that completeness – 13 people dining at the last supper of Jesus, etc.

Friday has been considered unlucky since the 14th century novel The Canterbury Tales. Here are some examples of unlucky Friday – Black Friday (Crash of the US stock markets), according to Christian scripture the crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place on a Friday.

I, obviously, am not going to try to dispel your superstition of Friday the 13th, so here are some notable occurrences of Fridays the 13th:

Four of the 12 films in the Friday the 13th series were released on … Friday the 13th.

Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead on Friday the 13th.

Black Sabbath’s debut album was released in the UK on Friday the 13th.

Astroid 99942 Apophis will make a close encounter with earth on Friday the 13th.

The effects of friggatriskaidephobia are great. The Stress Management and Phobia Institute estimates that the 17 – 21 million people are effected by this day and that $800 – $900 million is lost in business on a Friday the 13th.

Don’t let the fear of today take money out of your pocket because you are in hiding. Get out there and make the first of the 3 Fridays the 13th this year a great day.

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